God Thinking LXX - The Parable Of The Painting 1

The Parable of the Painting

Some people want to associate everything that happens in their lives as if:

God is painting the picture

Life is the canvas

And we are the paint

As God strokes His brush across the canvas, your life, lifestyle, livelihood is designed, lived and completed.  If God adds color, your life is filled with joy.  As He brushes shades of darkness, tumult follows and in the end God brushes the final stroke and you are gone.

But that’s not how it really is.  Here’s how it really is:

you are painting the picture

Life is the canvas

God gives you the tools; the palette, the brush, instruction and an endless supply of paint to work with.

But what is being painted is being painted by you - with God’s grace, of course - with God’s gifts, of course - with God’s intervention, absolutely, but YOU are doing the painting.

Sometimes you paint what you want to be.

Sometimes you paint what you really are.

Sometimes you paint an experience or a special memory.

Sometimes you paint a dream.

Sometimes you paint something beautiful.

Sometimes you paint something ugly.

Sometimes you might paint riding a motorcycle.

Sometimes you might paint a vacation, or a new home, or a child.

Sometimes a new relationship.

But you are doing the painting, you and the neighbor next door and those across the world - the righteous, the evil, the uncertain and the spiritual guru, the dictator, the terrorists and the saints all painting.

Understanding who you are and how God works in your life are the two most important quests that you will ever seek.  Understanding who you really are and how God really works in your life is essential - if the truths that emanate from God are to ever find their way into your heart and your home."

Excerpt from God Thinking LXX The Parable Of The Painting by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2015